Karma Yoga
By Ratan Lal Basu
Copyright 2011 Ratan Lal Basu
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Contents
I. Yoga: Spiritual and Secular
V. Excerpts from “Karma Yoga” by Swami Vivekananda
VI. A Story by Swami Vivekananda
I. Yoga: Spiritual and Secular
There are much misgivings about Yoga. It has occasionally been associated with solely religion and spiritualism.
However yoga aims at uplift of human body and mind and it may be either spiritual or secular.
The essential ingredients of yoga are 'karma' (work or action) and 'bhakti' (devotion). If karma and devotion are associated with union with the supreme then certainly yoga assumes its spiritual feature. On the other hand, if a secular scientist is devoted to his subject of research and engaged in unconditional research activities to discover some law of nature he could be considered as Karma-yogi and Jnan-yogi without being ostensibly spiritual. The essential question is unselfish commitment and action unperturbed any care for money, fame, praise, abuse or any material gains other than the object of devotion.
In common parlance nine kinds of yoga are mentioned: Raj-yoga, Bhakti-yoga, Karma-yoga, Janan-yoga, Hath-yoga, Lay-yoga, Tantra-yoga, Mantra-yoga and Kundalini-yoga. However, it is very difficult to isolate one type of yoga from the other. They are interdependent and there are areas of overlap.
However, no yoga is possible without karma and devotion.
A distinct differentiation between tanra and yoga proper is that in the former absolute freedom is given to our material desires so that we may have control over them and we may transcend them. On the other hand, in the latter the worldly desires are controlled from the very beginning.
There are much in common among Hath-yoga, Lay-yoga, Tantra-yoga and Kundalini-yoga. All of them are dependent on raising our physical and genetic capabilities through asans, mudras and pranayams. To achieve the ultimate goal they aim at preparing the body and mind by awakening the kundalini. So Kundalini-yoga is difficult to isolate from Hath-yoga, Lay-yoga and Tantra-yoga.
As regards asans (postures) for improvement of the functioning of our physical system and making the body free from diseases the best compilation is "Hatha-yoga Pradipika" composed by Yogi Swatmarama in 15th century A.D. On the basis of his text hundreds of asans have been in practice. These asans improve the functioning of our cardiac and respiratory system, nervous system, hormonal system, excretory system, skeletal system, muscular system, reproductive system and immunity system. They also help improve our memory, capability to perceive and comprehend and the power of concentration.
A pure Raj-yogi, Karma-yogi or Jnan-yogi would be immensely benefited by practicing these asans, mudras and pranayams. So we cannot isolate other kinds of yogas from Hath-yoga.
Even an atheist may get immense benefits from these postures and breathing exercises. All asans are not necessary for overall improvement of health. Moreover after a certain age, because of non-malleability of the muscles and joints, most of the asans cannot be practiced. But five or six asans are sufficient for overall improvement of health. In general I would suggest padmasan, sarbangasan + matsyasan, bazrasan, halasan, sarpasan (bhujangasan), gomukhasan, paban-muktasan and janusirasan. These are very simple asans and there are competent teachers in every gym in India. Add to these simple pranayams. Ramdeva (notwithstanding my reservations about his ethics) is an excellent teacher of these simple pranayams and mudras. Yoga-nidra is much helpful to make the mind tension free. The original posture is very difficult, but it could also be done in sabasan-posture.
The above Hatha-yogic practices would improve one's physical health and immunity system (minimize susceptibility to all acute diseases), prevent diabetes, blood-pressure, rheumatism and gout, cardiac and respiratory problems, indigestion, diarrhea etc.
They would, at any age, improve memory, power to concentrate, patience, stamina and capability to comprehend difficult subjects.
So, they are of much help to scientists, students, teachers, researchers, players, actors, singers and all other kinds of Karma and Jnan yogis, whether spiritual or secular.
All kinds of yogas taken together the basic components may defined in the following manner.
1. Study: with our sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.
2. Thought and meditation.
3. Postures and breathing exercises (asans, pranayams, mudras).
4. Tantra: higher levels of practices to awaken kundalini i.e. to activate our genetic potential by having command over autonomic nervous systems from coccyx upwards.
5. Mantra: Basic vibration Aum or Omkar Nad. In fact, sound is nothing but vibration. The vibration should have some medium, e.g. one can hear sound because the vibrating air carries the energy from its source and makes the auditory nerve vibrate and transmit the vibration to the central nervous system.
All energy in the universe exist in the form of vibration and intensity of energy depends on the frequency of vibration per unit of time. Matter and energy are inseparable and one cannot exist in the absence of the other. Every mass of matter, from vast stars to minute particles are in constant motion and vibration.
Einstein was misunderstood while he discovered the equation E = MC2. This is in fact the equation of conversion of larger particles (electron, proton, neutron etc.) into gamma ray, the hitherto known most powerful electro-magnetic wave.
But Max Plank, the father of quantum mechanics, had already discovered that electro magnetic waves are composed of photon particles. Higher is the frequency of vibration (lower the wave length) higher is the level of energy. The vibration frequency may fall only if it is transmitted to some other matter raising the energy level of the latter. In the dcreasing order of frequency electro magnetic waves may be classified as: Gamma ray, X-ray, ultra-violet ray, visible light (from violet to red), infra-red ray, radio waves of various frequencies.
Ordinary sound is due to vibration of molecules. But Nad includes all audible and inaudible sounds and vibrations of all particles. 'Aum' is the primordial Nad, the energy source that activates all particles of the universe. The vibration is transmitted from one particle to another and change from one ostensible form of energy to another: light (visible and invisible), sound (audible and inaudible), electricity, mechanical energy and motion of crude matters, magnetism, chemical energy and life force.
Matra for human beings is confined to the audible range of sound. But with yogic practices one develops power to sense higher (ultra-sonic) and lower (sub-sonic) levels of sounds. Ultra sonic sounds are used in radar mechanism and the bats use these to find their path. Even he may sense vibrations inside atomic structure or more finer particles.
All Vedic and Buddhist mantras produce sound vibrations that improves our body and mind. But I've every doubt if there are many persons who can properly chant mantras. However our classical music is based solely on Nad-theory. The raga-kirtans of Guru Granth Saheb of the Sikhs are based on Nad-theory.
The best example are Dhrupads by Dagar brothers. Khyals by Faiyaz Khan, Bade Ghulam, Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, sitar recitals by Nikhil Banerjee, Ravi Shankar, Sarod by Ali Akbar, to mention only a few, would give one a feeling of cosmic vibration.
The basic principals of Karma Yoga are:
Selfless Service and Detached Action without desire for the fruits of work.
According to Samkhya Sutra of Kapil Muni, there are three stages in our attitude:
Tamasic: Inactivity & Idleness, Fantasy, Obsession with Rituals.
Rajasic: Activity with self interest and attachment (desire and anxiety over fruits of work).
Satvic: Un-selfish Detached Activity.
The path of transition is: Inactivity & fantasy – selfish work with attachment – selfish work with detachment – un-selfish work with detachment.
In brief principle of a Karma Yogi is:
“Karmsanyebadhikaraste ma faleshu kadachana
Ma karmafalaheturbhuma te sangohstvikarmani”
(“You have control over doing your respective duty only, but no control or claim over the results. The fruits of work should not be your motive, and you should never be inactive” – Gita, chapter-2, sloka-47)
My Personal Experience
From very childhood I learnt from my elder brother (a renowned body-builder) 108 asans and innumerable mudras and pranayams. I, however, regularly practiced (and still do so) only six essential asans, five simple pranayams and Mahamudra.
At college life I felt intense curiosity about Yoga and Tantra and fortunately came in contact with a pious and accomplished tantric. He A elaborated to me the theoretical aspects of various kinds of Yoga and Tantra. Then he said that only Karma Yoga and Jnan Yoga would be most appropriate for me and I should start with the former.
While I requested him to teach me Karma Yoga he declined on the ground that I had examination ahead and said that I should better get down to my studies. Then he asked me,
“How is your preparation?”
I replied, “Good on the whole, but..”
“But what?”
“I feel tension and worries.”
“Why?”
“If I fail to do well.”
“But Can you do anything by worrying over all these. Anything undesirable may happen: the questions may be tough, you may get nervous and forget everything in the exam hall, there may be student trouble in the hall, because of traffic jam or political troubles you may not reach the hall in time, you may be attacked with acute disease right before exam. But these are all beyond your control. What you can do is simply to prepare in the best possible manner. Leave the other things to God. Don’t waste time on worrying over things which are beyond your control.”
He then smiled and said, “I’ve now taught you the basic principles of Karma Yoga. If you try to be free from worries over results you would soon feel urge for dedicating your energy for the benefit of others. So the second transition would be automatic -- from detached selfish work to detached un-selfish work. I’ve nothing more to teach you. Get down to your studies. You would learn the rest by reading books and emulating wise persons.”
2.39: The science of transcendental knowledge has been imparted to you, O Arjuna. now listen to the science of selfless service (seva), endowed with which you will free yourself from all karmic bondage, or sin.
2.40: No effort is ever lost in selfless service, and there is no adverse effect. Even a little practice of the discipline of selfless service protects one from the great fear of repeated birth and death.
2.41: A selfless worker has resolute determination for God-realization, but the desires of the one who works to enjoy the fruits of work are endless.
2.42: The misguided ones who delight in the melodious chanting of the Veda - without understanding the real purpose of the Vedas - think, O Arjuna, as if there is nothing else in the Vedas except the rituals for the sole purpose of obtaining heavenly enjoyment.
2.43: They are dominated by material desires, and consider the attainment of heaven as the highest goal of life. They engage in specific rites for the sake of prosperity and enjoyment. Rebirth is the result of their action.
2.44: The resolute determination of self-realization is not formed in the minds of those who are attached to pleasure and power, and whose judgment is obscured by ritualistic activities.
2.45: A portion of the Vedas deals with three modes -- Goodness, Passion, and Ignorance -- of material nature. Become free from pairs of opposites, be ever balanced and unconcerned with the thoughts of acquisition and preservation. Rise above these three modes, and be self-conscious, O Arjuna.
2.46: To a self-realized person the Vedas are as useful as a small reservoir of water when the water of a huge lake becomes available.
2.47: You have control over doing your respective duty only, but no control or claim over the results. The fruits of work should not be your motive, and you should never be inactive.
2.48: Do your duty to the best of your ability, O Arjuna, with your mind attached to the Lord, abandoning worry and selfish attachment to the results, and remaining calm in both success and failure. The selfless service is a Yogic practice that brings peace and equanimity of mind.
2.49: Work done with selfish motives is inferior by far to the selfless service. Therefore be a selfless worker, O Arjuna. Those who work only to enjoy the fruits of their labor are verily unhappy, because one has no control over the results.
2.50: A Karma-Yogi or the selfless person becomes free from both vice and virtue in this life itself. Therefore, strive for selfless service. Working to the best of one’s abilities without becoming selfishly attached to the fruits of work is called Karma-Yoga Or seva.
2.51: Karma-Yogis are freed from the bondage of rebirth due to renouncing the selfish attachment to the fruits of all work, and attain blissful divine state of salvation or nirvana.
2.52: When your intellect will completely pierce the veil of confusion, then you will become indifferent to what has been heard and what is to be heard from the scriptures.
2.53: When your intellect, that is confused by the conflicting opinions and the ritualistic doctrine of the Vedas, shall stay steady and firm on concentration of the supreme being, then you shall attain union with the Supreme in trance.
3.03: Lord Krishna said: in this world I have stated a twofold path of spiritual discipline in the past. The path of Self-Knowledge for the contemplative ones, and the path of Unselfish Work (Seva, Karma-Yoga) for all others.
Chapter-3
3.04-05: One does not attain freedom from the bondage of karma by merely abstaining from work. No one attains perfection by merely giving up work, because no one can remain action-less even for a moment. Everyone is driven to action - helplessly indeed - by the forces of nature.
3.06: Anyone, who restrains the senses but mentally dwells upon the sense objects, is called a pretender.
3.07: The one who controls the senses by the trained and purified mind and intellect, and engages the organs of action to selfless service is considered superior.
3.08: Perform your obligatory duty, because working is indeed better than sitting idle. Even the maintenance of your body would not be possible without work.
3.09: Work other than those done as a selfless service (seva) binds human beings. Therefore, becoming free from selfish attachment to the fruits of work, do your duty efficiently as a service to me.
3.10: In the beginning the creator created human beings together with selfless service (seva, sacrifice) and said: by serving each other you shall prosper and the sacrificial service shall fulfill all your desires.
3.11: Nourish the celestial controllers with selfless service, and they will nourish you. Thus nourishing one another you shall attain the supreme goal.
3.12; The celestial controllers, served by selfless service, will give you all desired objects. One who enjoys the gift of celestial controllers without sharing with others is, indeed, a thief.
3.13: The righteous who eat after feeding others are freed from all sins, but the impious who cook food only for themselves - without first offering to God, or sharing with others - verily eat sin.
3.14-15: The living beings are born from food grains, grains are produced by sacrificial work or duty performed by farmers and other field workers. Duty is prescribed in the scriptures. Scriptures (such as the Vedas, the holy Bible, the holy Koran) come from the Supreme Being. Thus the all-pervading Supreme Being or God is ever present in selfless service.
3.16: The one who does not help to keep the wheel of creation in motion by sacrificial duty (seva), and rejoices sense pleasures, that sinful person lives in vain.
3.17-18: The one who rejoices the Supreme Being, who is delighted with the Supreme Being, and who is content with the Supreme Being alone, for such a self-realized person there is no duty. Such a person has no interest, whatsoever, in what is done or what is not done. A self-realized person does not depend on anybody, except God, for anything.
3.19: Always perform your duty efficiently and without any selfish attachment to the results, because by doing work without attachment one attains Supreme.
3.20: King Janaka and others attained perfection of self-realization by selfless service (Karma-Yoga) alone. You should also perform your duty with a view to guiding people, and for the welfare of the society.
3.21: Because whatever noble persons do, others follow. Whatever standard they set up, the world follows.
3.22: O Arjuna, there is nothing in the three worlds - heaven, earth, and the lower regions - that should be done by me, nor there is anything unobtainable that I should obtain, yet I engage in Action.
3.23-24: Because, if I do not engage in Action relentlessly, O Arjuna, people would follow my path in everyway. These worlds would perish if I do not work, and I shall be the cause of confusion and destruction of all these people.
3.25: As the ignorant work with attachment to the fruits of work, so the wise should work without attachment, for the welfare of the society.
3.26: The wise should not unsettle the mind of the ignorant ones who are attached to the fruits of work, but the enlightened one should inspire others by performing all works efficiently without selfish attachment.
3.27: The forces of nature do all works. But due to delusion of ignorance people assume themselves to be the doer.
3.28: The one who knows the truth about the role of the forces of nature in getting work done does not become attached to the work. Such a person knows that it is the forces of nature that get their work done by using our organs as their instruments.
3.29: But those who are deluded by the illusive power (Maya) of nature become attached to the works done by the forces of nature. The wise should not disturb the mind of the ignorant whose knowledge is imperfect.
3.30: Do your duty dedicating all works to God in a spiritual frame of mind free from desire, attachment, and mental grief.
3.31-32: Those who always practice this teaching of mine - with faith and are free from cavil - become free from the bondage of karma. But those who carp at this teaching and do not practice it, consider them ignorant, senseless, and Lost.
3.33: All beings follow their nature. Even the wise act according to their own nature. What, then, is the value of sense restraint?
3.34: Attachments and aversions for the sense objects remain in the senses. One should not come under the control of these two, because they are two major stumbling blocks, indeed, on one's path of self-realization.
3.35: One's inferior natural work is better than superior unnatural work. Death in carrying out one's natural work is useful. Unnatural work produces too much stress.
3.36: Arjuna said: O Krishna , what impels one to commit sin as if unwillingly and forced against one's will?
3.37: Lord Krishna said: it is the lust born out of passion that becomes anger when unfulfilled. Lust is insatiable and is a great devil. Know this as the enemy.
3.38-39: As the fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust and as an embryo by the amnion; Similarly, self-knowledge gets covered by different degrees of this insatiable lust, the eternal enemy of the wise.
3.40: The senses, the mind and the intellect are said to be the abode of lust; with these it deludes a person by veiling the self-knowledge.
3.41: Therefore, O Arjuna, by controlling the senses first, kill this devil of material desire that destroys self-knowledge and self-realization.
3.42: The senses are said to be superior to the body, the mind is superior to the senses, the intellect is superior to the mind, transcendental knowledge is superior to the intellect and the self is superior to transcendental knowledge.
3.43: Thus, knowing the self to be superior to the intellect, and controlling the mind by the intellect that is purified by spiritual practices, one must kill this mighty enemy, lust, O Arjuna.
V. Excerpts from “Karma Yoga” by Swami Vivekananda
1. Karma in its effect on character is the most tremendous power than man has to deal with. Man is, as it were, a centre, and is attracting all the powers of the universe towards himself, and in this centre is fusing them all and again sending them off in a big current. Such a centre is the real man--the almighty, the omniscient--and he draws the whole universe towards him. Good and bad, misery and happiness, all are running towards him and clinging round him; and out of them he fashions the mighty stream of tendency called character and throws it outwards. As he has the power of drawing in anything, so has he the power of throwing it out.
2. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act. You will say, "What is the use of learning how to work? Everyone works in some way or other in this world." But there is such a thing as frittering away our energies. With regard to Karma-Yoga, the Gita says that it is doing work with cleverness and as a science; by knowing how to work, one can obtain the greatest results. You must remember that all work is simply to bring out the power of the mind which is already there, to wake up the soul. The power is inside every man, so is knowing; the different works are like blows to bring them out, to cause these giants to wake up.
3. Work for work's sake. There are some who are really the salt of the earth in every country and who work for work's sake, who do not care for name, or fame, or even to go to heaven. They work just because good will come of it.
4. If a man works without any selfish motive in view, does he not gain anything? Yes, he gains the highest. Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practice it. It is more paying from the point of view of health also. Love, truth and unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech, but they form our highest ideal, because in them lies such a manifestation of power. In the first place, a man who can work for five days, or even for five minutes, without any selfish motive whatever, without thinking of future, of heaven, of punishment, or anything of the kind, has in him the capacity to become a powerful moral giant. It is hard to do it, but in the heart of our hearts we know its value, and the good it brings.
5. It is the greatest manifestation of power--this tremendous restraint; self-restraint is a manifestation of greater power than all outgoing action. A carriage with four horses may rush down a hill unrestrained, or the coachman may curb the horses. Which is the greater manifestation of power, to let them go or to hold them? A cannon-ball flying through the air goes a long distance and falls. Another is cut short in its flight by striking against a wall, and the impact generates intense heat.
6. All outgoing energy following a selfish motive is frittered away; it will not cause power to return to you; but if restrained, it will result in development of power. This self-control will tend to produce a mighty will, a character which makes a Christ or a Buddha. Foolish men do not know this secret; they nevertheless want to rule mankind. Even a fool may rule the whole world if he works and waits. Let him wait a few years, restrain that foolish idea of governing; and when that idea is wholly gone, he will be a power in the world. The majority of us cannot see beyond a few years, just as some animals cannot see beyond a few steps. Just a little narrow circle--that is our world. We have not the patience to look beyond, and thus become immoral and wicked. This is our weakness, our powerlessness.
7. The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of the intense activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. He has learnt the secret of restraint, he has controlled himself. He goes through the streets of a big city with all its traffic, and his mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could reach him; and he is intensely working all the time. That is the ideal of Karma- Yoga, and if you have attained to that you have really learnt the secret of work.
8. But we have to begin from the beginning, to take up the works as they come to us and slowly make ourselves more unselfish every day. We must do the work and find out the motive power that prompts us; and, almost without exception, in the first years, we shall find that our motives are always selfish; but gradually this selfishness will melt by persistence, till at last will come the time when we shall be able to do really unselfish work. We may all hope that some day or other, as we struggle through the paths of life, there will come a time when we shall become perfectly unselfish; and the moment we attain to that, all our powers will be concentrated, and the knowledge which is ours will be manifest.
9. Two ways are left open to us--the way of the ignorant, who think that there is only one way to truth and that all the rest are wrong, and the way of the wise, who admit that, according to our mental constitution or the different planes of existence in which we are, duty and morality may vary. The important thing is to know that there are gradations of duty and of morality--that the duty of one state of life, in one set of circumstances, will not and cannot be that of another.
10. He who has no faith in himself can never have faith in God. Therefore, the only alternative remaining to us is to recognize that duty and morality vary under different circumstances;
11. Such is the central idea of Karma-Yoga. The Karma-Yogi is the man who understands that the highest ideal is non-resistance, and who also knows that this non-resistance is the highest manifestation of power in actual possession, and also what is called the resisting of evil is but a step on the way towards the manifestation of this highest power, namely, non-resistance. Before reaching this highest ideal, man's duty is to resist evil; let him work, let him fight, let him strike straight from the shoulder. Then only, when he has gained the power to resist, will non-resistance be a virtue.
12. I once met a man in my country whom I had known before as a very stupid, dull person, who knew nothing and had not the desire to know anything, and was living the life of a brute. He asked me what he should do to know God, how he was to get free. "Can you tell a lie?" I asked him. "No," he replied. "Then you must learn to do so. It is better to tell a lie than to be a brute, or a log of wood. You are inactive; you have not certainly reached the highest state, which is beyond all actions, calm and serene; you are too dull even to do something wicked." That was an extreme case, of course, and I was joking with him; but what I meant was that a man must be active in order to pass through activity to perfect calmness.
13. Inactivity should be avoided by all means. Activity always means resistance. Resist all evils, mental and physical; and when you have succeeded in resisting, then will calmness come.
14. This is hypocrisy and will serve no purpose. Plunge into the world, and then, after a time, when you have suffered and enjoyed all that is in it, will renunciation come; then will calmness come. So fulfill your desire for power and everything else, and after you have fulfilled the desire, will come the time when you will know that they are all very little things; but until you have fulfilled this desire, until you have passed through that activity, it is impossible for you to come to the state of calmness, serenity, and self-surrender.
15. Every man should take up his own ideal and endeavor to accomplish it. That is a surer way of progress than taking up other men's ideals, which he can never hope to accomplish. For instance, we take a child and at once give him the task of walking twenty miles. Either the little one dies, or one in a thousand crawls the twenty miles, to reach the end exhausted and half-dead. That is like what we generally try to do with the world. All the men and women, in any society, are not of the same mind, capacity, or of the same power to do things; they must have different ideals, and we have no right to sneer at any ideal. Let every one do the best he can for realizing his own ideal. Nor is it right that I should be judged by your standard or you by mine. The apple tree should not be judged by the standard of the oak, nor the oak by that of the apple. To judge the apple tree you must take the apple standard, and for the oak, its own standard.
16. Unity in variety is the plan of creation. However men and women may vary individually, there is unity in the background. The different individual characters and classes of men and women are natural variations in creation. Hence, we ought not to judge them by the same standard or put the same ideal before them. Such a course creates only an unnatural struggle, and the result is that man begins to hate himself and is hindered from becoming religious and good. Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest ideal, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the truth.
17. The scavenger in the street is quite as great and glorious as the king on his throne. Take him off his throne, make him do the work of the scavenger, and see how he fares. Take up the scavenger and see how he will rule. It is useless to say that the man who lives out of the world is a greater man than he who lives in the world; it is much more difficult to live in the world and worship God than to give it up and live a free and easy life. The four stages of life in India have in later times been reduced to two--that of the householder and of the monk. The householder marries and carries on his duties as a citizen, and the duty of the other is to devote his energies wholly to religion, to preach and to worship God.
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18. A fool can do heroic deeds when the approbation of society is upon him, but for a man to constantly do good without caring for the approbation of his fellow men is indeed the highest sacrifice man can perform.
19. Excessive attachment to food, clothes, and the tending of the body, and dressing of the hair should be avoided. The householder must be pure in heart and clean in body, always active and always ready for work.
20. To his enemies the householder must be a hero. Them he must resist. That is the duty of the householder. He must not sit down in a corner and weep, and talk nonsense about non-resistance. If he does not show himself a hero to his enemies he has not done his duty. And to his friends and relatives he must be as gentle as a lamb.
21. It is the duty of the householder not to pay reverence to the wicked; because, if he reverences the wicked people of the world, he patronizes wickedness; and it will be a great mistake if he disregards those who are worthy of respect, the good people. He must not be gushing in his friendship; he must not go out of the way making friends everywhere; he must watch the actions of the men he wants to make friends with, and their dealings with other men, reason upon them, and then make friends.
22. These three things he must not talk of. He must not talk in public of his own fame; he must not preach his own name or his own powers; he must not talk of his wealth, or of anything that has been told to him privately.
23. A householder who does not struggle to get wealth is immoral. If he is lazy and content to lead an idle life, he is immoral, because upon him depend hundreds. If he gets riches, hundreds of others will be thereby supported.
24. The householder by digging tanks, by planting trees on the roadsides, by establishing rest-houses for men and animals, by making roads and building bridges, goes towards the same goal as the greatest Yogi. This is one part of the doctrine of Karma-Yoga--activity, the duty of the householder. There is a passage later on, where it says that "if the householder dies in battle, fighting for his country or his religion, he comes to the same goal as the Yogi by meditation," showing thereby that what is duty for one is not duty for another. At the same time, it does not say that this duty is lowering and the other elevating. Each duty has its own place, and according to the circumstances in which we are placed, must we perform our duties.
25. One idea comes out of all this--the condemnation of all weakness. This is a particular idea in all our teachings which I like, either in philosophy, or in religion, or in work. If you read the Vedas, you will find this word always repeated--fearlessness--fear nothing. Fear is a sign of weakness. A man must go about his duties without taking notice of the sneers and the ridicule of the world.
VI. A Story by Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda occasionally used fables and stories to make difficult philosophical concepts comprehensible to the ordinary people. Here is such an excellent story from his famous book "Karma Yoga".
The Story
If a man retires from the world to worship God, he must not think that those who live in the world and work for the good of the world are not worshipping God: neither must those who live in the world, for wife and children, think that those who give up the world are low vagabonds. Each is great in his own place. This thought I will illustrate by a story.
A certain king used to inquire of all the Sannyasins that came to his country, "Which is the greater man--he who gives up the world and becomes a Sannyasin, or he who lives in the world and performs his duties as a householder?" Many wise men sought to solve the problem. Some asserted that the Sannyasin was the greater, upon which the king demanded that they should prove their assertion. When they could not, he ordered them to marry and become householders. Then others came and said, "The householder who performs his duties is the greater man." Of them, too the king demanded proofs. When they could not give them, he made them also settle down as householders.
At last there came a young Sannyasin, and the king similarly inquired of him also. He answered, "Each, O king, is equally great in his place." "Prove this to me," asked the king. "I will prove it to you," said the Sannyasin, "but you must first come and live as I do for a few days, that I may be able to prove to you what I say." The king consented and followed the Sannyasin out of his own territory and passed through many other countries until they came to a great kingdom. In the capital of that kingdom a great ceremony was going on. The king and the Sannyasin heard the noise of drums and music, and heard also the criers; the people were assembled in the streets in gala dress, and a great proclamation was being made. The king and the Sannyasin stood there to see what was going on. The crier was proclaiming loudly that the princess, daughter of the king of that country, was about to choose a husband from among those assembled before her.
It was an old custom in India for princesses to choose husbands in this way. Each princess had certain ideas of the sort of man she wanted for a husband. Some would have the handsomest man, others would have only the most learned, others again the richest, and so on. All the princes of the neighborhood put on their bravest attire and presented themselves before her. Sometimes they too had their own criers to enumerate their advantages and the reasons why they hoped the princess would choose them. The princess was taken round on a throne, in the most splendid array, and looked at and heard about them. If she was not pleased with what she saw and heard, she said to her bearers, "Move on," and no more notice was taken of the rejected suitors. If, however, the princess was pleased with any one of them, she threw a garland of flowers over him and he became her husband.
The princess of the country to which our king and the Sannyasin had come was having one of these interesting ceremonies. She was the most beautiful princess in the world, and the husband of the princess would be ruler of the kingdom after her father's death. The idea of this princess was to marry the handsomest man, but she could not find the right one to please her. Several times these meetings had taken place, but the princess could not select a husband. This meeting was the most splendid of all; more people than ever had come it. The princess came in on a throne, and the bearers carried her from place to place. She did not seem to care for any one, and every one became disappointed that this meeting also was going to be a failure. Just then came a young man, a Sannyasin, handsome as if the sun had come down to the earth, and stood in one corner of the assembly, watching what was going on. The throne with the princess came near him, and as soon as she saw the beautiful Sannyasin, she stopped and threw the garland over him. The young Sannyasin seized the garland and threw it off, exclaiming, "What nonsense is this? I am a Sannyasin. What is marriage to me?" The king of that country thought that perhaps this man was poor and so dared not marry the princess, and said to him, "With my daughter goes half my kingdom now, and the whole kingdom after my death!" and put the garland again on the Sannyasin. The young man threw it off once more, saying, "Nonsense! I do not want to marry," and walked quickly away from the assembly.
Now the princess had fallen so much in love with this young man that she said, "I must marry this man or I shall die"; and she went after him to bring him back. Then our other Sannyasin, who had brought the king there, said to him, "King, let us follow this pair"; so they walked after them, but at a good distance behind. The young Sannyasin who had refused to marry the princess walked out into the country for several miles. When he came to a forest and entered into it, the princess followed him, and the other two followed them. Now this young Sannyasin was well acquainted with that forest and knew all the intricate paths in it. He suddenly passed into one of these and disappeared, and the princess could not discover him. After trying for a long time to find him she sat down under a tree and began to weep, for she did not know the way out. Then our king and the other Sannyasin came up to her and said, "Do not weep; we will show you the way out of this forest, but it is too dark for us to find it now. Here is a big tree; let us rest under it, and in the morning we will go early and show you the road."
Now a little bird and his wife and their three little ones lived on that tree, in a nest. This little bird looked down and saw the three people under the tree and said to his wife, "My dear, what shall we do? Here are some guests in the house, and it is winter, and we have no fire." So he flew away and got a bit of burning firewood in his beak and dropped it before the guests, to which they added fuel and made a blazing fire. But the little bird was not satisfied. He said again to his wife, "My dear, what shall we do? There is nothing to give these people to eat, and they are hungry. We are householders; it is our duty to feed any one who comes to the house. I must do what I can, I will give them my body." So he plunged into the midst of the fire and perished. The guests saw him falling and tried to save him, but he was too quick for them.
The little bird's wife saw what her husband did, and she said, "Here are three persons and only one little bird for them to eat. It is not enough; it is my duty as a wife not to let my husband's effort go in vain; let them have my body also." Then she fell into the fire and was burned to death.
Then the three baby-birds, when they saw what was done and that there was still not enough food for the three guests, said, "Our parents have done what they could and still it is not enough. It is our duty to carry on the work of our parents; let our bodies go too." And they all dashed down into the fire also.
Amazed at what they saw, the three people could not of course eat these birds. They passed the night without food, and in the morning the king and the Sannyasin showed the princess the way, and she went back to her father.
Then the Sannyasin said to the king, "King, you have seen that each is great in his own place. If you want to live in the world, live like those birds, ready at any moment to sacrifice yourself for others. If you want to renounce the world, be like that young man to whom the most beautiful woman and a kingdom were as nothing. If you want to be a householder, hold your life a sacrifice for the welfare of others; and if you choose the life of renunciation, do not even look at beauty and money and power. Each is great in his own place, but the duty of the one is not the duty of the other."
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The Author
The author of this booklet is a Ph.D. in economics and professionally an economist but his passion for knowledge compels him at times to eschew the arena of economics and venture into other fields of knowledge, philosophy and religion are important among them. Dr. Basu may be contacted at rlbasu@rediffmail.com.